National Assembly (NA) Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on Saturday issued a work order against PTI MP Haji Imtiaz Ahmad Chaudhry after his party sought a privilege scheme against several police officials in Punjab.
According to PTI’s application, Chaudhry was arrested by law enforcement agencies on July 24 without seeking the permission of the Speaker.
Today, the Speaker again issued a production order – an order had been issued earlier but was later withdrawn – for the production of the PTI MNA on August 26 at 5 p.m.
“The Hon’ble Speaker considers the presence of Haji Imtiaz Ahmed Chaudhry… necessary during the said session of the National Assembly,” the order said.
The Speaker directed the Director General of Punjab Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) to produce Chaudhry before the Sergeant-at-Arms of Parliament at the beginning of every NA session, who will hand over the MNA to the custody of the ACE after every NA session.
The opposition MP was in custody of the ACE Justice Department in connection with a corruption case and was accused of receiving kickbacks worth Rs 2 million as part of a development scheme.
Aftab Haider, Circle Officer (CO) of Gujranwala Headquarters, had informed Gujrat Police that an ACE team had taken the MNA to Mandi Bahauddin to recover the “commission amount” he had allegedly received, adding that an amount of Rs 300,000 had already been recovered from the suspect.
However, the CO had said that when the ACE team was returning the MP to Gujranwala on Tuesday evening, about a dozen armed men in three vehicles intercepted the official vehicle on the new Shadiwal Road and opened fire indiscriminately.
The CO had said the ACE officers had exited the vehicle to take cover from the bullets and seek shelter. In the meantime, he said, the gunmen had taken away the MNA, who was still in the official vehicle.
Acting on the report of ACE CO, Gujarat Saddar Police has registered a kidnapping case against the unidentified suspects under Sections 353, 324, 427, 186, 224, 225, 148 and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and has initiated investigation.
Chaudhry was elected as an independent candidate (supported by the PTI) in the February 8 elections. He was previously elected as a member of the National Assembly on the PTI ticket for the first time in the 2018 elections.
